Base metals on the London Metal Exchange ended mostly higher at the close of trading on Thursday May 17, with aluminium's three-month price down 1% after a huge re-warranting of 138,650 tonnes at Port Klang this morning. The light metal's cash/three-month spread remains in a backwardation, moving from $23b per tonne earlier in the day to a current reading of $10b per tonne. The re-warranting...Read More
A large rewarranting of aluminium in Malaysia on Thursday May 17 stirred up slightly bullish sentiment in Europe's physical aluminium market. More than 138,000 tonnes were rewarranted in Port Klang in Malaysia on Thursday morning, pushing on-warrant stock in the Malaysian port up a meteoric 141% to 266,625 tonnes. Global on-warrant stocks jumped 18% overnight to 996,875 per tonne. The latest rewar...Read More
The CME Group's growing share of global trade in recent years has been driven by its increasingly global reach since its commercial push in base metals began in 2012, its global head of metals Young-Jin Chang told Metal Bulletin this week.In the first quarter, CME Group posted record trading volumes with average daily metals trading volumes up by 39% year on year and daily option volumes...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday May 16 pricing session in Europe.Key drivers - The ferro-titanium spot market moved down within its trading range, with about 280 tonnes of alloy reported to have been traded. - Most of the tonnage was reported sold at above $5 per kg, delivered duty paid, with less than 50 tonnes sold at $4.25-4.65 per kg. There is a disparity between what most producers have reported....Read More
New smelters and expansions at a suite of Chinese copper smelting companies will create fresh demand for concentrates from the third quarter of this year.Major smelters starting up in the coming months include Chalco's Ningde smelter and Lingbao Jincheng Metallurgical, while Tongling's Ausmelt project is due later this year.Having been beset by a series of delays, Chinese copper smelting expansion...Read More
The sharp rally in cobalt prices over the past two years has accelerated the adoption of cobalt scrap in the production of cobalt metal and salts, including cobalt sulfate, Chinese market participants told Metal Bulletin. The boom in cobalt scrap demand has come at a time when cobalt prices have almost doubled in a year due to a bullish outlook on electric vehicles (EVs) consumption. Cobalt is one...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell sharply on Thursday May 17 on news of a fresh European cargo being sold on the day.The country's steel producers were trying to get lower prices because of the weak demand in the domestic finished steel markets, sources said.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked the European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25) and 10,000 tonnes of bon...Read More
Chinese aluminium ingot ADC 12 export prices to main Japanese ports (MJP) hit a record high on Wednesday May 16, pushed up by a tight raw material market in China after the temporary one-month shutdown of the China Certification & Inspection Group's (CCIC) North American office, which stopped all scrap imports to China immediately.Metal Bulletin's price assessment for Chinese aluminium alloy ADC 1...Read More
German steelmakers have settled their monthly scrap contracts for May at unchanged prices due to a balance in supply and demand, sources told Metal Bulletin.Metal Bulletin's monthly price assessment for domestic grade-E3 scrap in Germany for May was ?,?280-300 ($331-354) per tonne delivered, unchanged from last month."Demand for scrap [in Germany] is good, but also there is no...Read More
The CME Group's growing share of global trade in recent years has been driven by its increasingly global reach since its commercial push in base metals began in 2012, its global head of metals Young-Jin Chang told Metal Bulletin this week.In the first quarter, CME Group posted record trading volumes with average daily metals trading volumes up by 39% year on year and daily option volumes...Read More
The sharp rally in cobalt prices over the past two years has accelerated the adoption of cobalt scrap in the production of cobalt metal and salts, including cobalt sulfate, Chinese market participants told Metal Bulletin. The boom in cobalt scrap demand has come at a time when cobalt prices have almost doubled in a year due to a bullish outlook on electric vehicles (EVs) consumption. Cobalt is one...Read More
The new energy vehicle (NEV) story is not a "red herring" and nickel physical market participants need to lock in prices now , according to Robert Hawkes, executive director, Goldman Sachs International. "If you are having to build a budget for [NEV] going forward, you can't rely on nickel prices [and where they might be] in five years' time, you need to lock in prices now," Hawkes...Read More
China's ferrous futures trended downward during morning trading on Thursday May 17 before minimizing their losses toward the end of the session, with the benchmark hot-rolled coil contract performing the best by closing higher than its opening price.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,680 yuan ($577) per tonne, down 4 yuan per tonne October hot-rolle...Read More
Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices have weakened in the past week on sluggish demand in the country's export markets, sources said on Thursday May 17.Turkish steel producers had reduced their offers to $555-560 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis, while buyers' bids have fallen to $545 per tonne fob and below, according to sources.Only a...Read More
Turkish domestic long steel prices have gone down on a US dollar basis over the past week due to the weakening of the domestic lira, sources said on Thursday May 17.Metal Bulletin's weekly domestic price assessment for rebar in Turkey was $555-570 per tonne ex-works, down from the $565-570 per tonne of last week.The local rebar price in the Izmir region was $560-570 per tonne ex-works, while the I...Read More
The price of imported steel billet in Egypt has gone up this week although local rebar prices are unchanged, sources told Metal Bulletin on Thursday May 17.The country's rebar biggest producer, Ezz Steel, is still offering material at E ?12,528 ($700) per tonne ex-works, including 14% VAT, while Beshay Steel, also a major domestic producer, is offering...Read More
Trading activity has rebounded in the export market for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States after a long silence in key outlet regions for the product."The market is still rather quiet, but buyers have started to show an interest in new purchases," a trader told Metal Bulletin on Thursday May 17.Metal Bulletin's export price assessment for high-manganese pig iron from the CIS regi...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell sharply on Thursday May 17 on news of a fresh European cargo being sold on the day.The country's steel producers were trying to get lower prices because of the weak demand in the domestic finished steel markets, sources said.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked the European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25) and 10,000 tonnes of bon...Read More
Production of most pig iron and all steel products at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) facility in Ukraine has been halted due to worker protests that began on Wednesday May 16. The protests were started by railroad department workers and spread to all other departments on May 16. Protesters have demanded an increase to monthly salaries to ?,?1,000 ($1,181) and to assurances that all rolling stock...Read More
Turkish domestic and export prices for steel billet have gone down over the past week in line with weakening rebar and scrap prices, while billet import prices have gone up because of positive sentiment in the CIS market, sources said on Thursday May 17.Domestic billet prices in Turkey have weakened with mills reducing their offers for the material under pressure from the falling rebar and scrap c...Read More